2007 Workshop
Sponsored by the Department of Physiology and Biophysics
On July 19th, the Department of Physiology and Biophysics sponsored a workshop for all interested graduate students that offered them a perspective of career options outside of academia. Over 50 students from all over campus attended. Featured speakers were graduates from the Cellular and Molecular Physiology Graduate Program here at UAB: VK Gadi, MD, PhD (University of Washington); Stacie Propst, Ph.D., Research!America; Emily Rothstein, Ph.D., Eli Lilly Company; and Ryan Morris, Ph.D., NIH. Each shared with the students the particulars of their current position and their experiences, in general, after graduate school. The workshop was from 8am-1pm in Shelby Building, room 105. You can find links to the flyer and agenda here.
FROM THE UAB KALEIDOSCOPE, JUL 31 EDITION
Post-docs look beyond academia for careers
MICHELLE AMARAL
Staff Writer
A workshop entitled “Career Options for Ph.D. Graduates” was held July 19 to provide an opportunity for Ph.D. candidates to explore various career options open to them. The workshop was sponsored by the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. Professor and department chair Dr. Dale Benos, said the department takes its educational mission very seriously. “An important part of that mission is to provide the students with the best possible information so that they can make informed career decisions,” Benos said. “What
better way is there than to have graduates of our own program return to share their experiences with our current students? If students from other departments can partake of this opportunity, all the better.”
The four speakers at the workshop were UAB graduates who received their doctorate
degrees through the Department of Physiology and Biophysics. Each presently works in areas outside of the traditional academic career path that many Ph.D candidates pursue.
Ryan Morris, above right, an intern with the National Institutes of
Health’s Center for Scientific Review, speaks with doctoral candidates
Dave Molfese, Haley Speed and Carlene Chapman, from left,
about the pros and cons for working for the government.
“Most Ph.D. candidates are unaware of the various careers available to them,” said Chris Chapleau, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Neurobiology. “This workshop opened my eyes to other opportunities . . . and allowed us to see the successes of UAB graduates; I feel like I am obtaining my degree from a very prestigious university.” Stacie Propst, Ph.D., currently the Senior Director of Science Policy and Outreach for Research!America, offered the students several suggestions for choosing a career. “Ask yourself ‘What am I good at?’ and ‘What do I like to do?’ as an initial step,” Propst said. “It is important to make connections. Volunteering is one good way. When I was a graduate student, I made connections at the weekly departmental seminars.” Propst also described her personal career path, which highlights the need for more efficient communication between scientists and the community. “Science advocacy is needed in order to educate
the public about health care research. This is particularly important when it is time to
vote, as our elected officials are the ones that will determine how much money will
be spent on research.”
“We need more of this,” said graduate student Kristin Hennesy, referring to the workshop and the interac
tions it facilitated between graduate students and also with the panel of speakers. Hennesy is past president of UAB’s Industry Roundtable, an organization aimed at exposing life science graduate students and postdocs to careers that are available outside academia. “This workshop brought more attention to the Industry Roundtable as another career resource for graduate students on campus,” Hennesy said.
Further career advice was offered by V.K. Gadi, M.D., Ph.D., a hematologic oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “Obtaining both an M.D. and a Ph.D. has enabled me to direct my work toward translational research, which is just the shift that the National Institutes of Health is currently making.” Translational research is an initiative by the NIH to promote a more “bench-to-bedside” approach to medical research. The intent is to develop basic scientific discoveries into more practical, clinical applications. “I spend about 30 percent of my time seeing patients; the rest is devoted to research,” Gadi said.
“There is a certain stigma attached to industry,” said Emily Rothstein, Ph.D., who works in the Lilly Center for Molecular and Anatomical Imaging at Eli Lilly. “I chose to go into industry and work as an imaging scientist because I love optics and imaging, and I wanted to apply that to patient care. “Industry is tough. You have to be very, very good to get to that next step. Industry is very product-driven, so the science must be faster (than in academia), and you must be able to work very efficiently.”
Ryan Morris, Ph.D., a Center for Scientific Review intern at NIH, also spoke to the students about the pros and cons of working for the government. “Working for the government provides job security, it is intellectually satisfying and you have a flexible schedule. There is, however, a staggering amount of bureaucracy.”
Overall, the workshop was met with enthusiasm from the student participants. “I received good information from the workshop. I know now that I will not go into industry,” said Haley Speed, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Neurobiology. “Instead, I would like to find a job at NIH, where I can do good science without dealing with so much politics.” Seena Mathew, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Neurobiology, said the workshop opened her eyes to career possibilities. “With the diminishing NIH funding and the rising age of ‘young’ investigators I wanted to broaden my options outside of academia. This workshop enabled me to do that.” Some students had suggestions to improve future career workshops. “Some of the reality aspects were missing from the talks,” said Teruko Bredemann, a graduate student in behavioral neuroscience. “I believe funding issues, how to balance family life and sacrifices these speakers made for graduate school are realities that should have been discussed in more depth.”
